Event Management 101
I looked at a folder in my inbox today and noticed that I had attended over 300 networking events in the past 4 years. And that does not include all the unofficial ones I have just dropped by. That’s a lot of events, a lot of people and a lot of time spent social engineering.
I talked to a few people I know in this industry and it seems I have attended more events than most organizers (at least the ones I know) spend time putting together events in a 4 year time-line. By this definition, I should know as much, if not more than compared to the event managers themselves. Here are a few things I think are critical for me (and many of my colleagues) to consider attending an event:
Before I register:
1. $ First: Don’t ask me to go through your silly registration process to tell me how much I need to spend to come for your event. This happens more often than I would like. I no longer go to events that make me do this.
2. Marketing: The best events I have been to are the ones that were never marketed. I don’t want to receive a gazillion emails from you to remind me of your event. I am not 2. I will sign up if I want to.
3. Who’s Who: I want to know who’s coming so far. Maybe I am the 1st registrant but give me that feedback. Show me names and the companies they represent of all the attendees for your event. I have wasted a lot of time going to events that aims at investors and entrepreneurs but 80% of the room is filled with students looking for jobs, lawyers passing out cards and engineers selling consulting services. The quality of your event is judged by the kind of people attending it. Make me see that. Don’t tell me about some key note speaker who I don’t really care about. Post the attendees LinkedIn profiles if I want to connect with them (and if they fill that option in during registration). Enable collaboration for everyone.
4. Integrate: Allow me to add your event details via 1 click to Outlook, GoogleCalender, etc. Make it seamless for your users.
5. Speakers: Avoid folks who are known to read out from a powerpoint. The best speakers I have heard and learnt from the ones who just chat with you and the ones that are humorous. I want to listen to people who have done something and are not just a fancy title. Post their LinkedIn profiles in case I want to connect with them.
6. Payment: Some folks accept payments only via PayPal. Ok “pal” – that’s your problem because I don’t use PayPal.
7. Logistics: Tell me about the logistics of parking, food, public transport, etc. Especially if you host your event in a city. As common sense as this sounds, it drives me crazy having to find this out for an event.
After I register | During The Event:
1. Avoid Over Communicating: Send me a reminder a day or 2 early. I don’t see a point in receiving emails every 3-4 days for every little change like this vendor will be displaying its products and speaker B dropped out, etc.
2. Don’t Change Venues: This is a big no-no!
3. Don’t Sell My Contact Info: Unless I allow you to do it. It’s a waste of money & time for everyone involved. Almost always, I started receiving junk snail-mail and email.
4. Don’t Misspell Names on Name Badges: This is VERY annoying and actually insulting. I see this happening all the time. I typed in my information on your website, how can you get that wrong?
5. Avoid Waste: Don’t give me random bags full of crap with brochures I will never read. If I ask for a writing pad, then give it to me. Ask me if I want one. This will save several marketing dollars for everyone.
6. Allow Time For Questions: I know some presentations take longer than others and sometimes we go over the time allocated to us. But leave time for audience questions. It’s basically like saying “you will listen to the speaker even if you think he’s wrong and leave”. Allow at least 20 mins for Q&A.
7. Tell me where I can get the slides if I want to access them.
Read more! Link
posted by Janak Joshi @ 10/20/2009 02:55:00 PM
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